8303 Taft Street · Merrillville, IN 46410 · (219)769-1755

Father Joseph E. Vamos
Pastor 1987 - present

Father Vamos was born on October 21, 1939, in East Chicago, Indiana to Joseph and Helen Vamos (both deceased). He has one brother, Emery, who is married to Judith. They live in Valparaiso, Indiana, and have three married children.

Father Vamos attended St. Joseph Grade School and Bishop Noll High School in Hammond, Indiana. He graduated from Bishop Noll High School in 1957 and then entered St. Meinrad College Seminary. He received his Theology studies at St. Meinrad School of Theology and was ordained Priest for the Diocese of Gary on May 28, 1966.

Father has held various associate and pastoral assignments in the Gary Diocese. He was pastor of St. Joseph Church in Hammond from 1973 to 1979. It was during this time that he was Chaplain for the Hammond Police Department. He was then pastor of St. Michael Church in Schererville, Indiana from 1979 to 1987. In 1987, he was transferred to Our Lady of Consolation, where he is currently pastor.

In 1972, he did his sabbatical in an ethnic Hungarian village in Czechoslovakia. He served as the parish priest in order to help in a small way with the priest shortage due to the many years of communist suppression of religion in that country.

From the time he was Chaplain of the Hammond Police Department, he had always wanted to continue in this area of community service. In the fall of 1998, he contacted the Lake County Sheriff's Department and became a member of the Chaplain team servicing the Lake County Sheriff's Department. He attended the International Conference of Police Chaplains Training Seminar in Colunbus, Ohio in 1999 and received his basic certification. Since that time, he has also been involved with the local Merrillville Police Department and serves as their Chaplain, also. Serving on these two departments has been a most rewarding experience for him. He has learned the tremendous amount of stress that is involved in police work and also how much there is a need for the public to be informed of the various aspects of police work so that they can see the role of the police departments in their role of serving and protecting the members of our community.